May passenger report: Jat with 16 year record / Adria going strong / MGX reports improvements

Jat Airways

May 2008 has been a successful month for Serbia’s national airline Jat Airways. It has reported its best result since 1991 with 116.956 passengers transported – an increase of 19% compared to last year. Even more impressive is the cabin occupancy index (the amount of people in the cabins across the fleet) which last month stood at 68 index points – the best cabin occupancy result since 1990 when it was 66 index points. From January this year to May 437.862 passengers travelled with Jat, a 9% increase since last year. The big improvement in passenger numbers has been greatly contributed by the world’s biggest music contest named the Eurovision Song Contest (the 53rd edition) which took place in Jat’s hub city Belgrade in May. Since 43 countries competed there were many tourists and participant delegations using Jat. Secondly the overall standard in Serbia is improving which can be traced to the large increase of Serbs using charter flights this summer for their holidays to Greece, Turkey and Egypt as compared to using busses, as was the case in the past. Jat Airways can expect a record July in 2009 in relation to passenger numbers as the Summer Universiade Games take place in Belgrade with 44 countries participating (sporting event).

Adria Airways

Adria this year is doing very well compared to a not so great 2007. It is currently reporting better 5 month passenger numbers than Jat Airways, although Adria can largely thank its success this year due to Slovenia’s presidency of the European Union (which started in January 2008 and ends in June). In May the airline transported 116.413 (some 400 passengers less than Jat) which is an increase of 27% compared to last year. It will be interesting to monitor the airlines result in the second half of this year. Last year Croatia Airlines came first from the ex-Yugoslav region in terms of the number of passengers transported with Jat second and Adria third. Will Adria overtake the second position? Stay tuned.

Montenegro Airlines

Montenegro Airlines transported in the first five months of 2008 154.000 passengers. Although Jat carried nearly as much in only one month it is important to remember the size of MGX and the size of its market. The airline’s management board announced that the January-May 2008 period has improved 21% compared to last year.